Jace Amaro on Michael Sam: Coming out as gay ‘took a lot of courage’

INDIANAPOLIS – Former Cowboys defensive end Greg Ellis made it clear in an interview this week with Dallas’ KESN-FM that he wouldn’t be comfortable playing with an openly gay teammate.

“I would. I would,” Ellis said, per the Dallas Morning News. “People who’ve never been in an NFL shower room, not just locker room, it’s a open room. We don’t have private curtains. It’s just an open-form shower, so everybody sees each in the nude. Well, if you’re looking at men as if you’re looking at women or vice versa, how are those guys to receive that? I don’t know. I don’t know how they will receive that.

“But I do know it would be a situation where I would go to the coach and try to work something out to say, ‘Obviously this is going to be a problem. What can we do? The kid can help us play, can help us win football games. We need him on the team. But this situation right here, we need to do something.’

My guess is that most of the draft-eligible players here at the NFL Scouting Combine will offer a much different take when asked about playing with Missouri’s Michael Sam, who revealed recently that he’s gay.

“For me personally, no, I don’t have a problem with it,” Texas Tech tight end Jace Amaro, a San Antonio MacArthur graduate, told me last week. “As long as he’s a great teammate and is in there to win, I don’t care. Personally, I just want to win. I’m tired of losing. I’ve only been a part of four winning years my whole career. I just want to be a part of a team that wants to win and wants to win a Super Bowl. That’s my next goal is to be part of a team like that.

“Whether he’s gay or not, I don’t care. It’s a great thing he (came out as gay), it took a lot of courage.”

By all accounts, Sam was a great teammate at Missouri. But Ellis, though, believes there would be problems playing with a gay teammate.

“If he pats somebody on the butt — I hope ESPN don’t get mad and never have me back — but if he pats somebody on the butt, how is that to be received?” Ellis said. “If he does that how is that to be received? If he said, ‘Come on baby’? I called guys baby all the time on the football field, but when you have taken a stand and went and go public and say that, ‘I am gay,’ how is that going to be received? I’ve seen guys, I had guys on the Dallas Cowboys football team — I won’t mention names — who did not want you to pat them on their butt. So God forbid if you pat one of those guys on the butt it’s going to be a major problem.”